Monday, July 14, 2014

A Memory Dredged Up

Just a little while ago, I had occasion to remember an incident with my boss, about nine years ago, shortly after he first started.

For context, it is important that you know that it was, at the time, quite routine for me to work 11-12 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, due to the routes I had to cover.

And also let me note that he seriously proposed having me go home early on Fridays, so I wouldn't draw any overtime pay. Not that there wasn't anything to do; he just wanted to avoid having the overtime on his payroll sheets. Guess he thought it made him look bad. I let him know in no uncertain terms that I had NO liking for the idea of working 24 hours in two days and not getting an extra nickel out of it.

Okay, moving on: at this time, my son was 15 years old and not able to drive, obviously. He had taken a part-time job with the local library system. He had to be there at six. I got off at five. It took me twenty minutes to get home and at least fifteen more to get him to work. There was obviously next to no time for error, and, in order to avoid complications, when necessary and when I knew I had a busy day, I would come in early.

I had a co-worker, a very intelligent and fine worker, who nevertheless committed something of a faux pas one day; she had promised someone in our little town that I would swing by after normal hours to deliver something. She thought it no big deal; it was only a few minutes. I said I didn't HAVE a few minutes, explained why, and in the end, SHE did the delivery. It was she who'd made the promise, after all.

The next day, that prince of a boss of mine lectured me on it, saying that I should think about putting my kids in daycare, "...because, MOTW, sometimes we have to work late."REALLY. That I WAS working late or coming in early at least two days a week and often more was completely forgotten. That the child in question was FIFTEEN FRECKLING YEARS OLD and TOTALLY IRRELEVANT to daycare never occurred to him.

It was the sort of totally insane and inconsiderate thing that only a true chucklehead untethered to reality would say.

I've been putting up with more of the same for about nine years. Just today, I looked at my route for tomorrow: eleven stops, leaving from our little town to Harrah (about two hours away), on up through The City, and finishing in Edmond. Three new people with attendant sets of paperwork to fill out and three installations. That is about an eleven to twelve hour day. I don't mind, in a way; I'll take the OT money. But it galls me that I am so taken for granted that I never get the courtesy of a "MOTW, are you able to do that tomorrow?"

As I've said before, I have to see how someone's health looks and pass an important test, probably early next year. Then we'll re-evaluate how long I'm staying with these people.